Yes its more Connecticon wrap up stuff. Another gaming day down the toilet thanks to cancellation without notification means I have a bit of spare time to catch up on my blogging backlog. (That only Chinese spammers seem to actually look at. If you count commenting on a blog with MODERATOR APPROVAL with spam that won't ever actually reach anyone as looking mind you.)
So after the personal sin against me double threat of wasting my time and getting my hopes up, posting some nicey artsy stuff from the Con seems a good way to whittle some time down.
(Though in this case it wasn't an intentional thing. My opponent wrecked his bike in the morning (with the scars to prove it.) and had a test the next morning. He was incredibly apologetic about the whole thing.)
But anyhow.
The "Artist's Colony" as it is known is an evolution of the "Artist's Alley" thing at many nerd conventions. These days with some people making a decent income off of their artistic endeavors some of them are even in the main "Dealer's Room" of a convention where those of us with fiscal irresponsibility (like me this year OH GOD) can spend even more cash.
The evolution from alley to colony has to do with how they have evolved. If you are familiar with Etsy, an online store where people can sell their handmade products, the colony has sort of become like that.
At these little tables sellers bring their wares, do commissions, and just generally talk shop.
Here is Artgobbo's:
I would say his table was a little atypical as there wasn't much anime related, nor was there a ton of cheesecake/beefcake type pictures.
(Like his neighbors. One of which I have already mentioned how skeevy the dude was.)
I rarely buy much from the colony directly as paying money for fanart isn't always my bag. However many bring along reasonably priced prints. It took me being both behind, to the side, and in front of Artgobbo's table off and on for three days before I noticed a print I wanted, making it my final purchase of the con:
The blurriness is intentional. Artgobbo is another of the many victims of Outlaw Press and its pilfering of artists that was so bad and inexcusable they lost their license to provide supplemental products for Tunnels & Trolls. (I would actually review the 2 products I bought from OP a few short weeks before his art thefts became known but it would be like stomping a man while he is down. I may be a dork, a nerd, a ragey douchebag, but I try to have some class!)
Obviously these are some hunters of bountying from a galaxy that is off in the distance or something.
Its a shame he didn't have some of his black and white art on display. The stuff is REALLY good. His animal wildlife art is fantastic, though he usually does the more cartoony style above.
Some may say OMG FURRY, but its in the same vein as Redwall and Mouse Guard which are only tangentially the same thing. As far as we know he doesn't draw humanoid animals doin each other or whatever other things Furfreaks are into these days.
(And if you are Artgobbo? IT IS TIME FOR AN INTERVENTION.)
He also does some neat handmade leather works. Here is one of his masks I found really awesome:
That's pretty impressive to me. Worked leather with hand textured paint. He had eyepatches and some masks that could easily be quick to remove faces for LARP play. Why wear icky makeup or some suffocating rubber mask when a nice leather one can suffice? Plus easier to remove if you go run down to the mini mart.
In the main dealer hall there was also David Willis of http://shortpacked.com/ a rather nifty webcomic about toys, and the ex alien fighters and other assorted crazies who collect and sell them.
(I apologize that Mr Willis and his gal were cut from the shot. I am sure you can see shots of them at his site.)
The picture here shows a cool commission I had him do. Amber of his comic dressed as an Adeptus Sororitas from Warhammer 40K. I got one of those bumper stickers too.
Sadly he probably would not have looked too fondly upon me if I had attempted to procure his Botcon exclusive Shattered Glass Ravage.
Yet one cool thing many webcomics and comic artists do if you buy their books there?
(The newest collection of Shortpacked. With an awesome homage to GI Joe. Appropriately Shipwreck is the gay guy of the cast. He likes Batman. BATMAN CAN BREATHE IN SPACE.)
Well, they tend to throw sketches in their books. And whose heart is so hard they would not want a Mirror Universe Ravage the Cassette Kitty who goes from a dark skulking spy to an adorably happy, chatty LOLCat?
Not me sir or madam. Not me. Its Ravage. Look at him. Can you see him waving? Can you also see him laugh as you hunt for him on Ebay where he and the other part of a 10-13 dollar mass market toy go for 100 dollars as a convention exclusive with a different paintscheme?
You probably can. :(
And in case you wanted a more close up picture of Amber as one of the Emperor's pryromaniac French Space Nuns here it is, albeit still with some coverage to keep people from getting a good printable version:
(Amber. Not only a cute nerd girl. But now quite possibly one of the only people in any form of Warhammer 40K art that is actually smiling that isn't an Ork or a servant of the Chaos god of Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll. And let's face it the latter are smiling because something else is about to be doing anything but, usually getting a new orifice in the process.)
So if you ever get to go to a nerd con, take some time out to visit the webcomic artists, the pro artists, and the colony artists. Buy some stuff and maybe even help support their future efforts.
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